Clinical analysis and etiology discussion of 163 cases with pulmonary bullae in children / 中华实用儿科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore clinical features, etiology and mechanism of pulmonary bullae in children.Methods:The clinical data of children with diagnosis or suspected diagnosis of pulmonary bullae, including the general situation, etiology, pathogen composition, number and location, prognosis and so on, in the Inpatient Department of Children′s Hospital of Chongqing Medical University from March 1993 to August 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.Results:Among the 163 patients, there were 130 cases of respiratory tract infection, and 11 cases of pneumothorax alone.Totally, 22 cases were found pulmonary bullae in the chest CT examination without typical symptoms.Etiology viruses accounted for 19.02%(31/163 cases), with mainly respiratory syncytial virus (9.20%, 15/163 cases); bacterial infection took up 28.83%(47/163 cases), mostly Haemophilus influenzae (13/163 cases, 7.98%) and Staphylococcus aureus (10/163 cases, 6.13%). Pulmonary bullae was more common in the right lung (82 cases). It took 7 days to 9 months for bullae to reduce, shrink or disappear.In some cases, there was no significant change in bullae even after 19 months. Conclusion:Pulmonary bullae can be seen in infection, tumor, auto-immune diseases and so on, most of which are bacterial infections.Bullae may exist for a long time.The mechanism of pulmonary bullae may include the narrowing of lumen, followed by the thickening of bronchial wall, ischemic necrosis and alveolar expansion due to the clogging of distal small vessels or capillaries, the degradation of connective tissue and dissociation of elastic tissue, the destruction of the bronchiolar wall, disturbing ion channels and mitochondria metabolism and destroying the connection of epithelial cells.